Greece: 42,000 migrants and counting as European borders stay shut

With the door still firmly shut to thousands of migrants and refugees on the Macedonian border, we asked our Athens correspondent Stamatis Giannisis for a snapshot of the migrant situation in Greece.

“As we speak, there are an estimated 42,000 migrants on Greek soil,” he said.

“Some 12,000 of them are at the Idomeni camp on the Greek -Macedonian border while 10,000 are still in the eastern Aegean islands, overlooking the Turkish shores .

“Of the 20,000 migrants scattered around mainland Greece from the country’s capital all the way to the northern borders, 10,000 are said to be in the Greater Athens area.

“A total of 30% of all the migrants in Greece are believed to be children, but only 42% say that they are Syrian nationals.

“The Greek government claims it has the capacity to offer shelter to at least 30,000 migrants but most of them are highly reluctant to use those facilities, fearing that if they check in, they might get arrested and not be allowed to continue their trip to western Europe.”

As the numbers at Idomeni have built up over recent days, the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, has warned of an imminent humanitarian crisis.

The Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) aid agency has also raised the alarm.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-03-12

Anyway they are now safe in Greece, not running for their lives any more. I think that was all these refugees really wanted. That many EU countries want to give them free houses and money in their own enclaves, elevate them above the laws of the land, and bring over dozens of extended relatives and mates is of secondary concern to them I'm sure.

Turkey is a safe country compared to where these migrants come from, why don't they just stay put once they get there ?

I guess they want to cherry pick their ultimate destination for what is more than likely economic reasons.

This won't end well for them as that's not how asylum works.

I see it as a Turkey problem which is being pushed onto the EU. Who allows these people to leave Turkey and why do they allow it ?

Anyway they are now safe in Greece, not running for their lives any more. I think that was all these refugees really wanted. That many EU countries want to give them free houses and money in their own enclaves, elevate them above the laws of the land, and bring over dozens of extended relatives and mates is of secondary concern to them I'm sure.

They were safe in Turkey before they chose to go to Greece....

Good to see the Turkish trafficking gangs still make a lot of money. Its time for the EU to stand up, in whatever way, to Endogan and his band of robbers.

Anyway they are now safe in Greece, not running for their lives any more. I think that was all these refugees really wanted. That many EU countries want to give them free houses and money in their own enclaves, elevate them above the laws of the land, and bring over dozens of extended relatives and mates is of secondary concern to them I'm sure.

They were safe in Turkey before they chose to go to Greece....

To be fair it's probable that 99.9% of them were perfectly safe in their own countries. Anecdotal evidence and stories buried by European MSM shows the ones that actually arrived in Europe caused total and utter mayhem. See todays typical news like the Ostersund saga which somehow leaked out of secrecy. Turns out we got the bullies not the victims, but then with no document checks or any other check that was bound to happen.

Greece was happy to go out and rescue them and take them to Greece as long as they were sent on their way quick quick to become another country's problem. Now it's all gone wrong and they are suffering the consequences of their own stupidity.

I bet if they could go back a few months to when it started, they would have given instruction to their navy to rescue them and return them from whence they came.

Turkey is a safe country compared to where these migrants come from, why don't they just stay put once they get there ?

I guess they want to cherry pick their ultimate destination for what is more than likely economic reasons.

This won't end well for them as that's not how asylum works.

I see it as a Turkey problem which is being pushed onto the EU. Who allows these people to leave Turkey and why do they allow it ?

MONEY - turns the world upside down.